No MP for BioShock

Recently launched official site confirms the eagerly awaited 360/PC shooter will be single-player only when it arrives in June.

There's no question that BioShock is one of the most eagerly awaited titles of the year. Developed by Irrational Games and published by its seminew owner 2K Games, the title wowed critics at E3 2006, earning Game of the Show and Best Xbox 360 Game honors from GameSpot. (The submerged-world action game is also coming to PC when it washes up on US shores this June.)

Nope, no multiplayer modes down here!

However, now it appears the moody first-person shooter may lose some potential players. According to a Q&A on The Cult of Rapture, the recently launched BioShock community site, the game will not have any multiplayer modes, either offline or online.

"There will be no multiplayer...but for a very specific reason," read a post from site manager Elizabeth Tobey. "BioShock features a compelling storyline that revolves around the experiences of one man as he enters the decaying world of Rapture. Having a multiplayer component would have compromised the story we were trying to tell so we made the decision to keep this game as a single-player experience."

While disappointing on the multiplayer front, the Q&A did offer some new hope to BioShock fans. Both the 360 and PC versions of the game will "be exactly the same" and be updated by downloadable content a la The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Unfortunately, though, no demo for the game is currently planned.

373 Comments

  • matty_sen

    Posted Jul 27, 2007 10:42 pm PT

    thats sh*t and stupid they lose and entre part of the crowed gamers and the game is only 10-16 hours long thats not "ala oblivon" oblivon has over 200 hours in it this is just not worth £40. yer it will give me an experence i will never forget like the darkness the darkness missed out tho they cud of had a real deep muti-player but it just rushed it like it was just somthing extra.a masterpiece like gears of war has an cinamatic single player (like bioshock) and has an deep muti-player

    (like UT) i meen sure it cant be the main guy but it cud be "slisers vs big daddys" that wud rock! who agreays with me?

  • MrLemur

    Posted Jun 3, 2007 3:41 pm PT

    This game does not need multiplayer if it lives up to the single player promise of replayablity. If the SP really does differ based on decisions made then the replayabilty is there. IMHO MP is highly overated and only importtant to folks who's egos are tied to there ability to p0wn at MP games. For the gaming industry to truly become the NEW form of mass entertainment over films and other traditional media they need to be more than just MP FPS.

    If you want MP FPS play CS, Quake or UT. Why does every game have to have MP? BTW, I love a good MP FPS, I just don't think every game needs to be one.

  • assasain47

    Posted May 21, 2007 10:41 pm PT

    by compromising the story they mean they would of had to either A. rush the multiplayer aspect which makes for poor gameplay and quality or B. cut the single player experience and story to include a probably mediocore multiplayer experience. This game is not about combat but decisions and what you do in the world. As long as the story is compelling and the gameplay lasts awhile and has replay value, everyone will be fine.

  • sjvferris

    Posted May 21, 2007 7:19 pm PT

    I'm all for a single player game, If I wanted another Halo/Goldeneye clone, I would have bought any of the other shooters out there. I want a game that lives up to the heritage of system shock. And this game looks like it will!!!!!! My only question is, when will they be starting work on the sequel???

  • Shodan-

    Posted Apr 24, 2007 12:16 pm PT

    The excuse for the lack of MP is such a terrible cover up. System Shock 2 was also a single player experience. The whole game based on a loner stuck in the SS2 world, but the coop worked perfect. All they did was slap another spawn point in. I realize that it's not that simple, but the fact that they're basing that as their excuse for not including coop, total labia ass clownage.

  • freshdug

    Posted Apr 23, 2007 12:44 pm PT

    Why does Gamespot criticize a similar game like Prey for including multiplayer, and now they are disappointed BioShock has no multiplayer? It makes no sense to me.

  • lithus

    Posted Mar 31, 2007 11:50 am PT

    "Having a multiplayer component would have compromised the story..." This is Bull****! Since when has multiplayer ever had any impact on the story, it's a separate entity! People play the Single player and than move onto the Multiplayer.
    I think this is an cop-out for 2K developers, they're still going to get paid the same with or without Multiplayer. If anyone should start a petition, it should be abou this, not some crappy limited edition tin.

  • midn8t

    Posted Mar 6, 2007 6:08 am PT

    well what people would like is a good COOP game doom3 sucked mostly because there was no COOP single player games get boring after while, a good advetner rpg frist preson shooter like this there is no reason why they could not have included coop.

  • atticusg47

    Posted Mar 3, 2007 11:37 am PT

    what are you talking about? thats why games have both single and multiplayer. Are you kidding the single player in gears of war was incredible. the only way to get good single player is an rpg? how about dead rising, crackdown, call of duty, fear, oblivion, gta, should i keep going? they shouldnt let people like you have children.

  • megamanmatt450

    Posted Mar 2, 2007 10:56 pm PT

    Glad there is no Multiplayer. Games of today have lost the fine art of crafting a good single player experience. Case in point Gears of War. Great multiplayer, crappy single player. Anymore the only time to get a good single player experience is if you're playing a RPG. Less multiplayer more single player I say.

  • Kalorin

    Posted Mar 1, 2007 7:13 pm PT

    BigBoss600 said:
    good that means it will be a real game like mgs and final fantasy and onimusha it wont be like ghost recon and rainbow six thats only online when it comes to the game play experience and lastly ill get this on the ps3 not my 360
    _____________________________________________________________

    MGS 3 had multiplayer and FFXIII is getting it.... So they weren't real games?

  • mummyattack

    Posted Feb 18, 2007 8:36 pm PT

    losers

  • games100

    Posted Feb 15, 2007 2:56 am PT

    I am ok with this but, what a bad excuse, but this better be an awesome game

  • BIGboss600

    Posted Feb 14, 2007 4:47 pm PT

    good that means it will be a real game like mgs and final fantasy and onimusha it wont be like ghost recon and rainbow six thats only online when it comes to the game play experience and lastly ill get this on the ps3 not my 360

  • alsha3er78

    Posted Feb 12, 2007 8:04 pm PT

    good choice on the part of irrational. MP for this kind of game just does not make any sense. just like it wouldn't make any sense to have an MP for a game like re4, which didn't suck due to the lack of MP. this game was being built from the ground up as a single player game, so i don't see where the disapointment comes from for not including an MP mode. on the other hand, a co op mode might work for this kind of game, but i doubt this will happen. either way, this is one game i'll be keeping my eyes on. oh, and one last thing...irrational better make this a 30+ hour game. this will be the only acceptable reason for not including an MP mode. if its one of those 10-15 hour games without MP then i'll pass on buying it, and just end up being a weekend rental.

  • stuckboy

    Posted Feb 10, 2007 5:51 pm PT

    MP sometimes detracts from the game. With Bioshock you would not be frightened by any of the mosters if you had seen them all before as your multiplayer skin.

    Anyway, what room does BioShock leave for multiplayer? Traditional DeathMatch and possibly CTF. Nothing that we can't just play on another game.

  • Cedcricket

    Posted Feb 7, 2007 3:16 pm PT

    this game didn't look like much of a MP anyway so who cares......

  • eegeeg

    Posted Feb 4, 2007 3:26 pm PT

    CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF THIS IS ONLY FOR XBOX 360 AND PC WILL IT BE COMING OUT FOR THE PS3 THANKS

  • puckhead778

    Posted Feb 3, 2007 2:37 pm PT

    still looks awesome......

  • aldrums

    Posted Feb 1, 2007 10:58 am PT

    oh boy oh boy oh boy .... this has to be THE Summer Xbox 360 hit

  • Lord_Bafford

    Posted Jan 30, 2007 6:44 am PT

    never expected it to be after seeing the gameplay

  • nyoe

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 5:59 pm PT

    its funny how befor this announcement every one was always posting the "wheres the mp" posts and now that its in stone everyones like "yea i knew it wouldnt be there i dont even care you people at irrational are stupid" maybe we should all complain about something that isnt obvious next time

  • AvIdGaMeR444

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 1:12 pm PT

    I never thought this game would have multiplayer anyway...But I'm sure there are many lemmings crying "Oh noez! I'll just wait for teh Halo 3!"

  • Scavija

    Posted Jan 26, 2007 6:10 am PT

    *shrugs* System Shock 2 wasn't shipped with a multiplayer component either, but was later added in a patch. Not saying that it will happen now, but it's not impossible. Besides, this is a singleplayer game. Multiplayer would, in my opinion, just feel tacked on and superfluous. To each his own, though.

  • Bahamut-Prime

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 6:59 pm PT

    No problem here either this game reminds me of deus ex and that did just fine without multiplayer

  • Royas

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 3:14 pm PT

    Suits me just fine, lets the concentrate on making the best SP game they can, without worrying about other aspects. It's a bold decision, given how common MP has become.

  • Crimson-_-Tears

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 2:40 pm PT

    I can do with out the MP features.

  • Jason_Morris

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 10:35 am PT

    Can't see why MP should be an issue - I'd much rather have a killer SP game. MP has been used as a smokescreen much too often to deliver below par goods in SP in the FPS genre.

  • starcutter20000

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 8:53 am PT

    the moding community will probably do it anyways and personaly I prefer better single play then multiplayer because story has a bigger impact.

  • nosobriety

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 8:38 am PT

    no multiplayer...sweet! now i can play this game in peace without some pre-pube highschoolers spewing profanity every second into my headset. back to the roots with single play, nice.

  • xifritx

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 8:23 am PT

    i cant wait for june even though i have a ps3 ...must steal an XBOX360 just for this game and maybe mass effect too lol

  • ObiKKa

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 6:09 am PT

    Uh huh? Come on! This is OLD news! They've already mentioned this a long time ago, & one of the reasons for this was because the replayability of the SP mode makes up for the absence of the MP modes.

    But... I guess they could make a Bioshock sequel, or a ***...Shock game with a limited or full co-operative MP mode(s).

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 5:20 am PT

    well, i suppose no multiplayer is better than a rushed multiplayer (a la farcry multi)

  • lovermanxxx

    Posted Jan 25, 2007 12:26 am PT

    chronicles of riddick had no multiplayer and was one of the best xbox shooters around. having said that, i know you can play gears, halo, cod etc for multiplayer killing but i think that it would be nice if they done an online co-op version. even if the other person was a non descript character. it is great fun playing through story with a mate.

  • Ahson_Khan

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 9:52 pm PT

    Listen guys... Wouldn't it be cool to use all those Plasmid combos on some1 REAL??? I don't get it why every1's just ruling MP out of Bio-Shock by sayin such a dumb line? I mean if the devs cant do it then they should just the modding comunity do it. THe Unreal Engine has always been modder friendly anyway!

  • Nate2583

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 8:41 pm PT

    Yeah. The Unreal Engine has done it again.Making a brilliantly visual game.

    I'm glad there is no multiplayer. Due to the fact that i have enough MPs and there will be MANY MORE to come.

    A nice break from all the MPS is always good.

  • Jebril

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 8:41 pm PT

    I can't see this game as bieng a multiplayer anway.

  • Ahson_Khan

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 8:16 pm PT

    Time to kick ASS single player style!! As long as they offer modding tools to PC gamers... There are no problems for how long folks will have to wait for MP MOD's for Bio-Shock! And Patmacfad's comment actually aids my theory that if u all remember... Half-life2 had no Deathmatch mod... but in weeks we had a CTF and DM MOD with 4-5 maps! SSSooooo As long as they do what valve did (SUPLY TOOLS AND MAKE A REMARKABLE SINGLE PLAYER EXPIERIENCE) theyr'e safe. Tell me what you think about my comment...

  • alcarazo9

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 8:01 pm PT

    i think no multiplayer is for the best, they should focus on the single player which looks incredible i cant wait to play this, a game doesnt need to have multiplayer for it to be good, but i would like this one to be a long game

  • patmacfad

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 7:18 pm PT

    Half-Life 2, anyone? Although that did come with Counter-Strike...

  • mrtweed2

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 7:10 pm PT

    A game of this caliber does not need a multi-player component. Believe it or not a pure single player experience will be sufficient, for this game in particular.

  • marijuana_man2

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 7:00 pm PT

    Bioshock... the game that allows to kill little girls, right? If so, then I'm surprised Jack Thompson hasn't flamed this yet....

    Regardless of the previous statement, I enjoy the 1950's look to it, as well as mixing it with somethings from common sci-fi movies seen on the mainstream, and the water effects. Because of those premises(and other things that I haven't say), Xbox owners may have another killer app for the 360 (hopefully...)

  • Alcotamaysees

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 6:29 pm PT

    I remember them saying something like this on on the spot. So I guess I'm not that surprised. The singleplayer looks spectacular so who am I to complain.

  • ninjaboy_99

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 6:15 pm PT

    I cant put in words how happy I am that some developers are making games for those gamers who are interested in story and the classic single player experience. I am SO tired of games getting bad ratings simply because they dont have any multiplayer support. Some games just dont need the multiplayer! Way to go Irrational for not selling out! This just makes me crave this game SO much more!

  • REd_toe

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 6:11 pm PT

    well, i never expected this game to have online gameplay or any muiltiplayer of some kind. I am going to buy it for the singleplayer and thats pretty much it.

  • mjwickstrom1

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 5:51 pm PT

    Without online this game will not sell well. Any good 360 game now has to have good online, or some kind of online in general!

  • crippla87

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 5:50 pm PT

    No complaints here. Some games just don't need multiplayer and with companies "forcing" it on developers, it's a breath of fresh air. More focus on the good stuff.

  • saadniazi

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 5:36 pm PT

    thank god there's ppl with sense posting on here!!! no mp isnt a prob at all. seriously some ppl are calling this rental-only now just cuz they cant run around online with no life? aslong as the single player is long, immersive, and (good)story driven it should be perfectly fine...pretty much like Deus Ex...i dont even know y they took that game online...cuz nobody played it online to be honest x_x...cuz it wasnt meant to be played online at all in the first place. good thing that single player campaigns arent being put on the back burner

  • nuttabutta

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 5:19 pm PT

    well good that way i can get half life 2 for the 360 and just play team fortress on that for my mp fix...heh heh

  • aldrenar47

    Posted Jan 24, 2007 5:06 pm PT

    sweet

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